“Oww... that hurts!” A light hurts me even though my eyes are closed. “What?” Wait a minute I’m not in intense agony anymore. I’m on my back and I can feel something solid and warm underneath me. Testing my legs and arms I discover I can move without problems. Opening my eyes I’m momentarily blinded by light. My eyes adjust quickly and I see a clear blue sky above me. I can hear birds and insects. Sitting up I look around, and I see that I’m inside a clearing surrounded by large tree’s that resemble Californian redwoods. Correction I’m sitting in a small ash covered crater that’s slightly smoking with some embers still burning in places. I’m in the epicenter of a thirty foot crater.

“What the fuck?” I look around wide eyed. “This can’t be? How? What the fuck?” Ok get a grip. I close my eyes and take a slow breath. Tasting ash and smoke I try to think. Last thing I remember I was deep underground and I touched a black orb that tried to absorb me or something. Opening my eyes I look at my arms and legs. “Looks normal? No black or purple stuff on my limbs. Hmmm” My head feels awkward. Reaching for my head I touch and feel something that was not there before. I take my hands away from my forehead then touch the new things again. “What the hell?! Horns?!”

The horns on my head feel like they are as hard as stone. I yanked on them and feel around their base. The protrusions are solid and feel like they have grown out of my skull. “What the fuck?” The horns curve up then back and up again with a slight twist. I also felt that my ears are longer now and have a sharp point to them. “This is weird.” I stand up with no problems, well if you ignore the fact I was naked as the day I was born. I look down. “Holy shit!” I notice that there are red hot coals on the ground where I was laying in the shape of my body.

Startled I hopped to my right and ended up jumping at least five feet in the air and falling on my side eight feet away. I didn’t expect that. Getting up slowly I walk back to where I was and look at the smoking coals. It looks hot, yet I don’t feel the heat that’s obviously is radiating from the body shaped coal bed. I kneeled down and looked at it. Reaching for the coals I still can’t feel the heat, so I tensely touched then picked one up. “Wow this is cool.” It’s definitely a red hot coal and lights up as I blow on it, yet I feel no heat from it, and my skin is not burning I just feel some slight warmth. “Gain power he said. I hope it didn’t turn me into a demon.” With the horns and pointed ears and unnatural jumping skills, I’m not confident that I’m still human.

I have to find out where I’m at before I should worry about any odd body parts. The giant trees surrounding the crater seem to be redwoods. Redwoods are in California. How did I get to California? I run to a tree to get a better look at it. Well more like launched myself like a rocket, and slammed face first into a tree as I tripped on the lip of the crater. I felt no pain as I collided with the tree, that’s good I guess. Looking at the tree, it has bright red-orange bark, fifteen foot diameter base, and probably over two hundred feet tall. Well that’s interesting but tells me nothing about where I’m at.

I have horns and pointed ears I jump higher than normal with less force. My speed has increased. I need to control this or I’m just going to end up bouncing off trees all over the place. I start a few stretches and flex some muscle. “Damn I’m ripped.” I admire the well-toned looking body I now have. I was fit before but damn not as I am now. “Let’s test a few things.” I hop up lightly and end up nearly a foot in the air without trying. This time trying I flex my legs and bend down and jump with all I have. I jumped over twenty feet in the air, and on landing I ended up planting my feet into the ground a few inches.

This is confusing. I pull my feet out of the ground. Is gravity lower here? I hardly felt that landing. To sink a couple of inches into the ground means the ground is more malleable then I thought or I’m denser then I used to be. “Hmm time to test some more.” And test I did, first I tested my speed by running around the crater for a bit. My new stamina is great, for I wasn’t even winded after running around and jumping around the crater. I punched a tree a few times until I planted my hand and wrist in it. I felt I could punch the tree harder still, but decided not to. Satisfied that I can now move around without my new found strength interfering I look up to the sun.

“Ok let’s get out of here and find civilization.” I look up to find the general direction of the sun. I guess it’s in the afternoon. “West sounds good” I leave the clearing and head toward the setting sun into the forest. It’s a good thing there’s not too much brush or weeds in between the trees, or walking through this forest would be a pain to travel in my naked state. Picking up a thin branch off the ground I snap off one end reducing its length to match my 6 feet. It should be useful as a makeshift weapon. Hopefully I come across a house or a river to follow before I have to use it.

After walking for a few hours I found nothing but more trees and it started to get dark. The sun set while I kept walking, yet I didn’t feel tired, nor did I get blinded by the night, for I could still see. This is neat I could see in the dark. I could see as if everything was in a dark shade instead of just black. I could still see color, it was duller but still I could see. That’s so cool. Even at night this forest never stopped making noise. In fact there seems to be sounds of something behind me. I stop and look behind me. I see nothing for a moment then I see it. Some kind of four legged animal came around a tree that I passed just a moment ago.

“Shit.” The animal looked like a cross between a tiger and a canine. It was sniffing the ground and it had a big jaw, clawed feet and plenty of muscle. Should I run? Should I fight? With my new speed I think I can out run it? Damn! It just lifted its head and saw me. Opening its mouth it revealing a set of nasty teeth resembling how sharks have their teeth. “Shit!” putting my stick in front of me I decide to see if I can fight it. Probably a fatal decision but with my new strength I think I can scare it away. It starts to run at me picking up speed and then everything starts to slow down. What? It’s still running at me but now it seems like it’s going in slow motion. It slowly jumps up in the air at me and spreads its clawed paws out and opens its jaw further. Moving through the air slowly towards me I swing at its head with all my strength. Damn even I’m moving slower than normal but only slightly, but compared to how fast the tiger-dog thing is moving time may as well of stopped for it.

My stick hits the tiger dog thing and shatters on its head pieces slowly flying away. The animal’s trajectory started to change starting from its head but too slowly for my taste, so I continue my motion and round house kick it in the head again. Time seems to resume suddenly and a loud crack and boom nearly deafens me as the tiger-dog thing spins away and smacks into a tree hard. It bounces off and lands next to me twitching. I think I heard some bones braking as it hit that tree. It stops twitching after a few seconds. I watch it for a few minutes. I think it is dead, for its skull looks like it is caved in with brain matter leaking out were I hit and kicked it. I didn’t feel any resistance when I struck it with my make shift weapon, but only when I kicked it did I feel something. I poke it with my now three foot stick.

“You are one ugly monster.” I wonder if I can eat you? I do feel like I’m starting to get hungry. Kneeling down I check it again to be sure. Finding no pulse I nod and think how I’m going to eat this, for eating it raw at the moment doesn’t seem too appetizing. Getting up I gather some sticks for firewood and spend an hour or more rubbing sticks together before I got a fire going. I pull one of the tiger-dog’s claws off. The claws were about three inches long. Using the claw I skin the animal and gut it. Good thing I learned a few things while I was growing up. If my dad never took me hunting I don’t think I’d ever of learned these skills.

While setting up the skin and cooking some of the tiger-dog over the fire I came to terms with what happened. Time had somehow slowed down to a crawl when I had fought the thing, and I could move myself almost as if time hadn’t slowed. Was it time manipulation or just time perception sped up by adrenalin in my brain? I need to experience it a few more times to be sure. I did more damage with my kick then I did with the stick. If I’m not mistaken I think I cased a sonic boom when I kicked the tiger-dog thing as well as driving my heel into the ground as I spun.

The tiger-dog thing did not taste so great. It was not the worst I’ve eaten so I guess it wasn’t too bad. Using the claw I pulled out, I scraped off all the fat and flesh I could from its skin. I intend to use this for clothes, for I don’t like walking around completely naked. Now all I need is to find some water so I can clean the skin and get all the blood off of me after I butchered it. Standing up I put the fire out with my foot. It’s pretty cool that I can brush out flames and stomp out coals with my bare feet without getting burned.

I wrapped some of the meat in a big leaf from a bush, and tied it with a vine I pulled off a tree. While I’m at it I may as well give myself some modesty. Pulling more vines down I take more of the big leaves off A bush and thread the vine threw them and tie it around my waist making a kilt nearly to my knees. Picking up the skin I had stretched out with some sticks I continue my trek west. I walked undisturbed for the rest of the night and into the next day. It took me all day before I heard the sound of water.

Heading to the sounds direction I found a small river that flowed from northeast to southwest. Arriving at its banks it appeared to be crystal clear all the way across and probably about shoulder depth at the center. I see some fish in its depths and in the shallows. Nothing deadly looking in the small river that I can be seen in it right now, yet I better keep my eyes open. Placing my food and the tiger-dog skin down on some rocks I walk into the river to wash off the ash, dirt, and blood that accumulated on my skin. Walking waist deep in the water I relax. I wonder if I can catch some fish. Some fish try to pass me and I reach for it and surprisingly catch it easily like it never moved from when I started to reach for it. The time slowing thing must have happened again. Maybe I can replicate it while catching some fish.

After a little over two hours of fish catching I finally had the time phenomenon pegged. I was relaxed while trying to catch the fish. Every time I decided to try to catch one of the fish that wandered close, time seemed to slow to nearly a standstill, and I was still able to move normally and catch them as if they never moved. Each time I created a large splash after I caught each one as time resumed. I was relaxed so time was not speed up for me, so I think I’m manipulating time in some way. I am probably manipulating time with magic somehow, for it’s the only thing I can think of at this time. I only kept the big fish I caught and threw them ashore releasing the rest.

Getting out of the water I gather the fish and clean them. Gathering more wood I make a fire and set up the fish to smoke and set the remainder of the tiger-dog meat to cook over it. Grabbing the skin I walk back to the river’s edge and clean the tiger-dog skin. Finishing cleaning the skin I stoke the fire again to cook the meat faster. I finish eating and wrap up the fish in leaves from some bushes growing near the river. I guess I will follow the river south and hope to find someone.

On the second night walking I stopped and was stunned. I can see two moons in the sky now that there wasn’t a tree canopy blocking my view. The two moons in the sky are alien to me. The bigger moon of the two had a ring around it like the planet Saturn and the second moon looked more normal, yet it seemed bigger then Earth’s with a whole lot more craters on it. The shock had me staring at them for a few hours before I came back to myself. “Toto we are not in Kansas anymore.” I am defiantly not on Earth anymore. Looking around the sky I don’t even see any constellations I recognize.

On my third night I finally felt sleepy and slept on a flat rock close to the river. Waking up early before sunrise I found that some animal had stolen and ate half my fish while I slept. The next couple of nights I continued to follow the river, fish, and work on the tiger skin until I was able to dry and soften it enough to allow making clothes from it. I made myself; some crude pants, a tattered vest, crude shoes, a water skin, and a backpack. On my trek I saw plenty of herbivores a couple of lynx like cats but not once did I see another tiger-dog thing. After a few more days of walking I started to feel an uncomfortable pressure in my chest.

I’ve lost track of how many days I’ve been walking along this river. The pain in my chest has gotten worse every day and I’ve been starting to sweat from the pain. The pain seems to lessen a little every time I sleep but gets even worse each time before I sleep. I’m walking slower now and have been getting dizzy and short of breath today. I think I may have a fever. I just have to man up and keep walking I should reach someone sometime. I trip on a rock and fall on my hands and knees to stabilize myself. “Damn” my vision is blurry and I close my eyes and wait out the dizzy spell I got from the fall. Opening my eyes I see something shiny on the ground.

I laughed and reach out and pick up the shiny object. The object is a shiny white metal comb. I laugh louder and start to cry. Finally a sign of civilization be it human or other I don’t care as long as they are people. Wiping the tears of joy from my eyes I fight off another dizzy spell and look around. I find some human looking foot prints that lead off from the river to a well-used looking trail. Standing up my vision blurs and I fight to stay standing. The pain in my chest feels worse than it has ever been. I can’t let it defeat me, for possible help might be close by. I slowly walk onto the trail.

I walk along the trail for what seemed like forever, but was probably less than an hour before I saw an intricately carved wooden arch over the trail. Some sort of writing or runes line the insides of the arch. As I pass through the arch I feel like I just walked through some cobwebs and the runes glow green for a few seconds. Feeling the pain and dizziness increase I continue to walk forward. I don’t have time to admire the arch I got to find help. As I walk I enter what looks like a lavish garden of some kind as the trees thin out. The path turns from sand and dirt to a carved stone walkway.

As I slowly walk along the path I start to hear someone singing. My hart sooths and the pain in my chest lessen. I slowly walk towards the singing and my pain lessens yet my dizziness remains. The song is beautiful and serene and I feel it could lull a raging beast to sleep. Coming around a corner of some preened shrubbery I see a woman sitting on a stone bench singing under the shade of a tree. I thought the song was beautiful but it is nothing compared to her.

From her pointed ears, and silver blond hair, and fair skin she looks like what I imagine an elf would look like. She is the most beautiful woman I have ever seen. She is wearing a stylish looking white dress and a jeweled tiara. The dress started at her neck, and ended at her knees, and was sleeveless. She has her eyes closed and seems to be totally zoned into her song. Walking forward I stop and lean on a tree to fight away the dizziness. “Beautiful.”

With an intake of breath she looks at me then jumps up off the bench, and spins her body in my direction with surprise on her face. The pain in my chest returns from the dull ach her song soothed to a crushing pain stronger than before. Sliding off the tree I fall to one knee. I look at her and grimace in pain and raise my right hand to her. “Help me please.” My strength leaves me and I fall face forst into the stone walkway. Dizziness overwhelms me and my world goes black as I close my eyes.

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“…ch…energy…sick…not…mal…” Voices I can hear voices, but I can’t make them out. The sentences are too jumbled I can hardly make out words.

“…Sleep…” I think I recognize that voice. I think she is the elf I saw before. How do I know that? Opining my eyes I see a light and its being held in some ones hand, yet it’s too bright to make out who is holding it. “Sleep” her voice again. My eye lids feel heavy and I can’t seem to hold them open. Damn I didn’t get to look at much. I’m going to assume they are helping me. I awoke a couple of times more to see the same light hidden person above me, and each time I was put to sleep within seconds of opening my eyes. The pain in my chest was there each time I awoke yet lessened each time. I didn’t hear her voice again just a man’s.

“The Vedrin mutant should be awake soon.” I hear a man’s voice filled with contempt. What’s a Vedrin, is he talking about me?

“Then leave Halidashin Cis’Gorn if he bothers you so much. Besides we don’t even know if he’s Vedrin. This man’s horns are not the same as the Vedrin." That’s the female elf’s voice I saw before. I open my eyes, and I’m not immediately blinded by light, yet there still is someone standing above me holding some kind of crystal. The crystal seems to give out a small white glow. The pain seems to be just a barely perceptible dull ach in my chest now, and I no longer seem to have a fever.

“Good he’s awake.” The man above me spoke and lowered the crystal. This must be Halidashin Cis’Gorn whom spoke earlier. Halidashin looks like you’d imagine a pompous arrogant elf would look like with his fancy frilly clothes. He had long smooth light brown hair that looked well taken care of. He looked at me with disgust in his eyes. “Do not get up you are still affected by magin syndrome.” His voice seemed odd like he was trying to speak with an accent.

“What do you mean?” I looked around the room. There were five people in the room besides me. Two were in the back of the room by the door and they were armored and armed. There armor looked like fancy decorated plate mail and covered them from head to toe. They had diamond shaped tower shields with a sword sheathed and held some kind of javelin in there hand. The coat of arms on the shields is a dragon wrapped around a tree. They must be guards of some kind.

The other two in the room besides the guy hovering over me are the woman who was probably talking before, and a meaner looking armored elf. The elf was not wearing a helmet instead he had red hair and some kind of circlet on his head, as well as some earrings on both ears. His face looked handsome like I assume all elf’s are, yet he had a wicked three pronged scar across the left side of his face just missing his eye. I guess that explains why the tip of his left ear is gone. His armor is plate like the other two yet his has fancy writing all over it. He had two short swords on either side and no shield.

The room is made out of stone, Spartan and bland looking, a wooden desk and chair against the wall on the left, and the bed I was in has an end table at the end. The room was lit by a lamp on the desk and end table, as well as some light filtering in threw some bars in the window. Why are there bars in the window? Is this a cell?

“Oh good you speak elvish. I don’t have to speak that brutish language.” Halidashin snorted in disgust. I looked back to him. What the hell is this guy’s problem?

“Please just answer his questions and then you may leave Halidashin Cis’Gorn.” This Elf woman was the one I saw and heard in that garden park like place from before.

“Very well princess.” He looked back to me and raised his head a little. What the hell! This guy is arrogant. “You were suffering from magin syndrome. You had excess mana in your body to a point where you suffered from a mana overdose. Usually this effects children at puberty who do not use there mana when it manifest. Though rare it is not unheard of for adults whom come late into their power to be affected by it. Standard treatment is to siphon out the excess mana or have the patient cast magic daily until his body becomes acclimated to its own mana.”

“Excess mana. Why do I have an excess?” I guess this confirms that I was casting magic before. If I was casting magic before how come I was suffering from excess mana.

“In your case you have an extreme excess of mana that I have never seen before.” He actually looked a little impressed. “So much excess that casting a few spells would only be a few grains of sand on a beach. Siphoning was the only safe method to use from the state your body was in.”

“So how did you do that.” I tried to sit up from the bed and failed. Damn I feel week. I probably should stay under the blankets being naked and all.

“Simple.” He raised his right hand and held the crystal so I could see it. “I pulled your mana out of your body by using crystals like this.”

“What is it?” he put the crystal into a sack on his side, and looked back to me with an irritated look, then he quickly looked at the woman then back to me.

“It’s a mana crystal and it stores mana for future use. They can be used to safely help people adjust to their mana capacity.”

“How many did it take and will you need to still use them on me?”

“No, your body has adjusted and will no longer require help as its capacity for mana grows.” What did he just say? My mana capacity will still grow. “The usual amount is two or four crystals for children who suffer from magin syndrome, and one to two for adults.” He started to look excited. “In your case I was using four a day for one Sun Moon.”

“How long is a Sun Moon?”

“What?” he looked at me confused. “What are you talking about? A sun moon is 4 weeks everyone should know that.” What! I was out for an entire month. ”Are you suffering from memory loss?” he and the women looked at me quickly and the armored elf just grunted. Hmm I could play it this way, for it would make it easier to explain my ignorance about this world.

“Yes I think so. I remember my name, but nothing about where I’m from.”

“Convenient.” The scared elf grunted

“A possible side effect of magin syndrome, for it is not unheard of for some to be afflicted so.”

“Where are my clothes?” I look about the room. The Beautiful elf woman blushed and looked away from me, so I looked back to Halidashin.

“Those so called rags were inspected and burned.” The look of disgust returned to his face. “Given Vedrin physiology you should be back on your feet in a day or two.”

“I don’t think I am a Vedrin.” I think what the girl said before about my horns to be more likely.

“Ha you can’t fool me. You are obviously a hybrid probably half moon elf and vedrin. It’s the only thing that can explain your misshapen horns and elfin ears.” The elf looked at me with distain. Ok he is totally pissing me off.

“Do you have a way to prove that, or are you just the type who judges everything on looks alone.” I look at him angrily.

“In fact I do, how else do you think I was able to correctly diagnose you.” He returns my angry look with contempt. That’s interesting I wonder how.

“How can you show me?” I stare into his eyes and he flinches and looks away towards the girl.

“Go ahead Halidashin Cis’Gorn I would like to see this too.” The elfin girl waves her hand toward me. She is a breathtaking silver blond elf with silver white eyes. She’s wearing a green gown with gold embroidery. “Please humor us.”

“As you wish princess Elestia Voean Cis’Viacion.” Halidashin bows to the girl. He turns away and walks to the desk in the room and looks into a bag on it.

“You’re a princess?” I hope my surprise doesn’t show too much on my face. She looks at me and smiles.

“I am, If I am to speak with you I need your name.” she looks at me expectantly. Since they like to say full names so much I better lay it on thick.

“Forgive me Princess Elestia Voean Cis’Viacion I am Richard Von Coldfire.” Kaltefeuer is not bad but I felt like saying its English translation for it sounds better to me. “I am pleased to meet you, and I thank you with all that I am for helping me.”

“I am pleased to meet you as well Richard Von Coldfire you may call me Elestia or Princess Elestia in the presence of others.” She gave me a smile and I could swear my heart just skipped a beat.

“Y..you may call me Richard princess Elestia.” Crap I stuttered. Did she really make me nervous with just a smile? With looks like hers no wonder I got smitten so quickly. I got to get ahold of myself. I close my eyes and take a deep breath and let it out.

“Are you ok Richard?” Opening my eyes I saw that she had come closer with concern in her eyes. Crap! Stay cool.

“I’m fine.” I hope that didn’t sound lame.

“Ahem...I am ready to precede princess.” Halidashin had returned to the bed side with a sack in his hands.

“Oh!” she looks back to the elf and takes a step back.

“These crystals will light up when the holder has the blood of the race that they are keyed to.” With one hand he hands me two small crystals, one which was glowing already. Both crystals had one symbol carved into it. One symbol was a leaf the other was a circle with two lines coming out its top. “One crystal will light up if you have the blood of a Vedrin the other if you Have Elvin blood.” Both crystals glowed in my hand. “There do you believe me now princess Elestia.” He holds his hand out to me and I place the crystals in it which he emiditly places back into the bag.

“Yes, but there must be more.” She looks at me and cocks her head slightly. Elestia looks back to Halidashin. “Yet it still does not explain his skin tone, for Moon elves have light blue Skin and Vedrin have a light red color. Wouldn’t that make his skin light purple?” Halidashin smirks and squints his eyes looking at me.

“You are right princess.” He looks back into the bag and reaches in and pulls out two more crystals. “I shall solve this by testing him for all the races I have crystals for.” He hands me two more crystals, one has a stick figure of a man on it the other a hammer. “These two are for dwarves and humans.” Both crystals light up. He takes the crystals back and pulls one more out and looks at it. “This one might explain your teeth. This is for beastkin.” The crystal had something carved into it, and it too lite up. “Ha you are a true mutt indeed.” That pompus attitude is back.

“Halidashin! He is my guest and you will treat him as such.”

“My apologies princess Elestia I will try to do so.” He takes the crystal back and puts it back in the sack and lowers it to his side.

“Is that it are there more?” I ask him. Halidashin looks back to me and laughs. “Hardly I have three more, and the chances that you have their blood is impossible.

“How do you know that until you try.” He laughs again and pulls one out of the bag.

“This is for dragon blood.” He smiles at me. “And you have no chance of having their blood.” He gives me the crystal and it lights up. “What!” his eyes grow wide and moves closer to me and looks at the crystal. “Impossible.” Sweet I have dragon blood this is so cool.

“Any others?” I smile at him and glance at Elestia and she too has her eyes wide, as well as the scarred elf at her back.

“What?” Halidashin looked at me with a confused look.

“Do you have any more crystals? I would like to find out what else I am.” This is awesome, what else is flowing in this body’s veins.

“Yes.” He blinks and continues to stare at the crystal in my hand wide eyed.

“Well are you going test me with them?

“What?” he closes his eyes and shakes his head. “Yes give me a moment.” He takes the dragon crystal from me and switches it with two more crystals and both light up as well. Halidashin’s jaw drops and his eyes get wider, and he drops to his knees. What a reaction he’s having from just these two crystal’s, I wonder why. Looking at the crystals I see a wing carved into one and an eye in the other.

“What is it Halidashin what are they for?” the princess puts a hand on his shoulder. Halidashin doesn’t respond and continued to be slack jawed and wide eyed. “Halidashin Cis’Gorn.” Elestia raised her voice to him.

“Imp… p… p… Impossible. This can’t be? How? Impossible.” He starts to stutter.

“Halidashin. The crystals what are they?” Elestia shakes his shoulder. Wow that guy is flabbergasted about these two crystals more so then the dragon one.

“Cel… celestial and and… Demon…” He spoke the last word with fear.

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Hello every one and thank you for reading. First of all im sorry for every one who fav or followed for the long update time. I procrastinated and sat on the first half for a whole month. I ended this chapter with 5666 words. No lie i didnt entend for that to happen but MUahahahaha im good.... joking joking i wasnt trying for that number it just ...happened.